Dwaing

Kurt
Thank you for the information.
I was almost your neighbor in Clarendon Hills a long time ago.
Wain
If you can read you can learn anything for here are those who can write, however not everyone who can write has correct information.
 

My Christmas present is a Lexington kit from The Lumberyard. Feldman's practicum is no longer available from SeaWatch Books . Does anyone know if there is a copy, book or DVD, available? Would any one be willing to share with me or sell to me a copy? Thanks for any help.

At our Guild meeting this am, there was general agreement that a beginner's kit was which ever the beginner first purchases and builds. My beginners kit over 50 years ago was Bounty, but then I knew nothing about ships beyond how to build a model airplane. I had read Mutiny On The Bounty.

To avoid the blade following the curve of the grain, I use a rolling cutter, small diameter blade for tight curves and a larger diameter for  more gentle curves. For small I mean 10 mm and for large I mean 100 mm diameter. These cutters can be found at fabric stores like Joann's, Michaels,,etc. They a as sharp as any razor blade and do not dull rapidly. Replacement blades are also available.

You can find Ponce Wheels at any sewing store like Hobby Lobby , Michaels or Joann.

If you could find a source for some "architect or draftsman's linen", it might give the appearance of canvas for deck covering, However I have not seen any for sale in decades. Drafting seems to only be done on the computer these days. My kid brother was a design engineer and I remember seeing him use it many moons ago.  

I think what you need is a surfactant to make the water wetter so it penetrates more deeply into the wood (xylem cells). I use a common household product call "clean shower" as a 1:10 solution dissolved in distilled water.

When I make sails, I use D. Steel's book and make a simple ratio and Proportion between the engravings and the length of the spars of the model and  measure the angles of the engravings with as protractor and draft each sail on silkspan and add a hem to each outside edge.   There are more details on a PDF I will send if you PM me.

The quality of the wood I received in the Hannah Kit from Dave was superior. :DYour Kit will be well worth any wait for it.

Miloman
I use Alene's  sticky with good results.

Cap'nBob
I use quick time plugin in my win 7

I used a scotch brand glue stick. Comes in permanent and in repositionable. Worked well for me on my Hannah. That was a Hahn method.

Cap'n'Bob.
I would use  the free program INFANVIEW. One of its commands is to reverse colors so you can print white letters on a black background.

Ferric chloride solution works well I you, like I by mistake did, have tried filing white or Britannia metal and clogged up the file.

I used Birds' eye maple veneer which I cut into planks. The results with the appearance of knots if the wood is fully figured is pleasing to me.  I placed it on a sub decking of 1/23 inch birch plywood.

Re: barely noticeable weave of Silk span . It 's weave is non existent as it is a felted product . I made a full ship set of sails for my Rattlesnake with Silk span. I have a small minipractium on how I make sails which I could send to anyone by email if you send me a PM request.

I obtain my linen thread from  threadneedlestreet.com .  They have various colors and weights. 

Hamilton
I wanted to deck my Rattlesnake with Birdseye maple veneer. So I made a sub deck with 1/23 " plywood. worked well for me.

Captain Al
Do not believe anyone who says the Bounty rigging is too difficult for a novice.  My first wood ship was a Mantua kit of the Bounty which I still have after completing it over 60 years ago. :)All the rigging still looks ok, and now I even know the purpose of each line and rope, however when I built her I had no clew .

skipper1947
the second has a different format and only includes part of the first one you posted

For many years I have used "Thread Heaven" in place of beeswax. It never affects the color of some fibers as beeswax sometimes does. Any fuzzy fibers lay flat, for example on the rigging of my Bounty built over 60 years ago. Available from sewing stores and Amazon. Comes in a small cubic container and each .lasts me decades.

About 60 years ago I purchased a #4 scalpel handle and a gross of #22 blades. I have already used up 60 blades. The handle requires a few moments of time to unscrew a screw, remove the dull blade and insert a new blade and re-insert the holding screw. However this holding arraignment results in less flexing then with the newer scalpel handles with the snap on and off arrangement for holding the blade. The only use I now have for a # 11 exacto blade is to cut deck planks from wood veneers with no curvature. If they are to be curved the scalpel does the superior Non-splitting job.

I have found that another sewing product is far superior to traditional bees wax. It is Heavenly Thread. Find it at your favorite quilting shop or sewing shop, such as Joanns.
comes in a small blue cubic container.

I used birdseye maple veneer to plank the deck of my Rattlesnake,  I set up a simple jig to cut the strips.   Looks good to me.

Adam
What a great project. But from all the suggestions that keep coming in there may be no end in sight to completion. May be this will be an infinitely ongoing project. Thanks for your great contribution to the MSW. :D